The “TV side” of the migration in the 2018 Italian general election

In the recent years, the migration phenomenon has obtained a relevant position within the International public debate. In particular, it represents one of the most relevant theme in the current media agenda for its composite nature that is reflected in the economic, political and cultural spheres of society. If, on the one hand, the migration has continued to play a key function in media narrative as representative agents, in the other hand, it has gained a new prominent position in the political agenda at the international level. The most important national and international researches on the complex relationship between the media and the migration phenomenon has highlighted a characteristic feature of the media narration: the use of stereotyped narrative frames. But, if the typical formula adopting by the media is the narration of immigrants as one of the most important cause of the increase of social problems and of the perception of insecurity in socio-economic terms, linked to the economic crisis and to the raising of both ""common"" crime (e.g. murders and robberies) and “extraordinary” one (e.g. terrorist attacks), at the same time, it is increasingly frequent the use of these narrative “frames” in the political and communication strategies of populist and anti-establishment political actors. According to this, the paper aims to analyse the migrants’ representation in the most important TV talk shows during the 2018 Italian political campaign, characterized by the success of two populistic forces (the M5S and Lega Nord), in order to identify the peculiarities and narrative styles used in television political programs by the most important political leaders during this electoral competition.